Betting on Basketball Prop Bets

Basketball prop bets are one of the most exciting and fun bet types that you
can make on a game. Prop bets sometimes referred to as 'specials,' usually refer
to the bet types that don't fall into the regular betting categories (who is
going to win, etc.).

Yes, that's an extremely obscure definition, but the bets
really are all over the place. The best way to describe them is to show you some
examples, and then you'll understand.

In basketball, there are two categories of prop bets - skilled bets, and
unskilled bets. It's important to point out that you will never see the bets
split up this way on a gambling website or in a sportsbook. This is just the way
that we like to organize them so that we can show you a few strategy points with
each.

Skilled Bets

Skilled prop bets in basketball are prop bets that you can actually use your
knowledge and strategies to try and win. These bets require knowledge of the
game and the players involved to get correct. While they can have more
volatility at times, they're definitely an important key to a lot of winning
basketball betting strategies.

Here are a few examples of skill style basketball prop bets.

Will Russell Westbrook score over 30 points in this game?

Will Kobe Bryant get more than two blocks in this game?

Will the Western Conference Championship go seven games?

As you can see, you're basically betting on things that might not directly
affect the score of the game. You are betting on how well individual players
will perform in the game or how well teams might fare in a series. While these
may look tough on the surface, you can definitely apply skill and knowledge to
make educated predictions of each.

For example, let's say you are looking to bet if Russell Westbrook will score
over 30 points in the game or not. You can bet that he WILL score over 30 points
or you can bet that he WON'T score over 30 points. Both sides of the bet are
almost always available. Let's say Westbrook usually averages 33 points a game,
but you think the defense he will be up against is going to shut him down. In
this case, you would probably bet that he won't score over 30 points. If your
prediction about the defense shutting him down is correct, you will win your
bet.

Skilled prop bets allow you to bet on your predictions and strategy hunches
that might not deal directly with the outcome of the game. Westbrook can score
under 30 points, but his team can still win the game. Without prop bets, you
would have no way of capitalizing on your prediction.

Unskilled Prop Bets

The unskilled prop bets (Also known as the fun ones!) are bets that are
straight gambling. You might be able to get a tiny prediction one way or the
other, but for the most part, you will be guessing. Here are some examples of
fun prop bets in basketball.

Will there be over five dunks in the game?

Which team will score first in the game?

Who will win rookie of the year?

How many fouls will there be in the first quarter?

As you can see, it's probably near impossible to predict a lot of these. Some
of them, like maybe rookie of the year, might be somewhere in the middle of
skilled and unskilled, but you're still probably only going to be betting on
these for fun. That's the important thing to remember here. These prop bets
should strictly be used for fun gambling and not be part of your money-winning
strategy. They're definitely a ton of fun, but you can't beat these bets
in the long run. If you use them for what they're made for, they're awesome.
Just promise us you won't go and try to be a fun prop bets professional.

How They Work

Prop bets are one of the easiest forms of sports betting you can get involved
with. One of the best uses of them is to introduce new people to sports betting.
Let's say you have a significant other that is trying to get into basketball and
sports betting but doesn't really understand much of the game. You could teach
them what a dunk is and tell them that if anyone does that more than five times,
they win their bet! You might be pleasantly surprised how this helps not to get
the TV channel changed when the game is on.

Regarding how prop bets work, they're about as simple as we've described.
There really is no way to complicate them. You are presented with a prop, and
then you select which side of the prop you want to be on. For example:

How many points will Russell Westbrook score?

Over 30.5

-145

Under 30.5

+125

If you think he will score MORE than 30.5 points, you bet the over. If you
think he will score LESS than 30.5 points, you bet the under. You may be asking
why the line is set at 30.5 instead of at a whole number. This is commonly done
to prevent ties. Since it is impossible to score half points, you will 100% win
or lose your bet and don't have to worry about a tie.

How They're Paid Out

Basketball prop bets pay out the same as all other bets. The odds on the side
you are betting are either given in moneyline format, decimal format, or in
fractional format. Let's look at our above example real quickly to make sure you
understand this.

How many points will Russell Westbrook score?

Over 30.5

-145

Under 30.5

+125

Let's say we bet $100 on the under because we think the defense is going to
shut him down. We were right, and he only scores 23 points. We will get paid out
at the odds of +125 for our winning bet. This means we will receive $125 in
profit for our correct pick.

You may see the odds written in decimal format or fractional format depending
on what part of the world you are based in. Here is how those will look just so
you're more comfortable when you see them. Remember, these bets are all EXACTLY
the same and pay out exactly the same. They're just the same thing written
differently. It's the same as if we said "it's hot outside" versus "It's 100
degrees outside." They both mean the exact same thing, they're just said
differently.

Westbrook ScoreMoneyline

Over 30.5

-145

Under 30.5

+125

Westbrook ScoreDecimal

Over 30.5

1.69

Under 30.5

2.25

Westbrook ScoreFractional

Over 30.5

69/100

Under 30.5

5/4

Benefits of Basketball Prop Bets

Flexibility of Betting

Before prop bets were invented, you really could only bet on the outcome of
the game. If you knew of something that you thought was going to happen during
the game that might not directly affect the winner of the game, you were out of
luck. Sure, if you thought from our above example that Russell Westbrook was
going to have a bad game you could bet against his team, but someone else could
step up, and they would still win. You would have been spot on with your
prediction, but not rewarded for it. Now you can really pinpoint your
predictions and take full advantage of the little things that you notice about
individual situations or players in a basketball game

The Money Making Potential

As we touched upon in the flexibility of betting section, prop bets open up a
whole new avenue of bets that you can work with to build your money-making
strategy. They allow you to vary what you're betting on and attack situations
that you pick up on that, you think the public or the line makers are wrong
about. All of this leads to a better money-making opportunity for you. Remember,
though, we are only talking about the skill based prop bets here. If you're
constantly betting on how many times someone will trip during a game or what
will happen in the halftime show, you're probably going to struggle to show a
long term profit.

Entertainment Value

Prop bets are insanely fun. There really is no denying that. We are not just
referring to the unskilled ones, but the skilled ones as well. Prop bets give
you things to root for no matter what is going on in the game. The game could be
a blowout, and you could still be cheering for a certain player to make one more
three-pointer so you can win your prop bet or you could be cheering for one more
dunk to win your bet. When you only bet on the score of the game, you find
yourself in a lot of situations where you may be out of the running for a win
fairly early in the game. Props keep the rush going as well as the money-making
opportunity.

Tips and Strategy Advice

Regarding the fun, unskilled prop bets our only piece of strategy advice is
to have fun. Don't kill yourself trying to find a way to determine how many
times players will fall over during the game. That being said, if you do find a
way to determine that, please let us know and we can all go retire together :)

Regarding skill prop bets, there is quite a bit you can do to try and gain an
edge. Here are a few tips that might help point you in the right direction. As
every prop bet is so different, we can't really give you a ton of specific tips,
but what we can do is help to shape the way your mind thinks about prop bets.
This will allow you to approach any prop bet and work towards making an educated
prediction that hopefully results in a money-making win.

Bet on Who You Know

Our common tip for sports betting is to only bet on the teams or sports that
you know. While that continues to be true with prop bets, it goes a step further
as you are now betting on individual players in a game. This will require you to
be even more knowledgeable about specifics. For example, let's look at our
Russell Westbrook example from earlier. You won't need to just know about his
team and the team he is playing, but you'll need to know about him specifically
and the person or persons that will be guarding him. While this will require
more work, it opens up some new opportunities. The more data that is present,
the more chances there are for the line makers and for the public to make
mistakes. If you can spot these mistakes, you can capitalize. It all begins,
though, with making sure you are knowledgeable on what and WHO you are betting
on.

Use the Correct Data

As we just discussed, there is a lot more data that comes into play with
individuals. You have to make sure that you are looking at the correct data that
is pertinent to the actual bet you are making. For example, if you are betting
on how many three-pointers someone is going to make, their total points average
for a game is pointless. Also, the other team's basic defensive stats are not
worthless, but there are more accurate data points you can look at. Instead of
looking at regular defense stats, look at stats specifically against the
three-point shot.

The key here is to get as exact and specific in your research as possible.
The more you can dial in on the exact thing you are betting on, the stronger and
more accurate your prediction is likely to be.

Make Sure Your Bets Work Together

One of the biggest blunders sports bettors tend to make when making a lot of
bets is not making sure their bets are working together. This means that you are
not limiting the amount you can win through bets that are contradictory to each
other. Still confused? No worries. Let's give an example.

Let's say you are betting that Russell Westbrook is going to score under 30
points and will be shut down by the other team's defense. If you were also to
bet that Westbrook's team was going to win the game, these bets would be working
against each other. If a team's leading scorer is getting shut down, you can't
in good conscious bet on that team to win the game. You'd most likely be wanting
to bet that they are going to lose the game or not place that bet at all if you
thought Westbrook was going to get denied the whole game.

This is a bit of an extreme example, but it should get your head moving in
the right direction. A less obvious example might be betting that two players on
the same squad are going to score over the line set for them. They're going to
be basically stealing possessions from each other the whole game, and it's
really hard to win both of these bets. Try and make sure your bets all work
together so your potential win ceiling is the highest it can be. The best way to
do this is to ask yourself before you place a bet how it impacts all other bets
on that game. It doesn't take a lot of rocket science to see when you may have
accidentally set something against yourself.